Category: Military History

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Why Did the Europeans Win?

My last post, “Land Grants or Land Grabs,” revealed that most federal land that started land-grant universities had been taken from Indians. I  received some constructive pushback. (See the comments.) But that feedback reminded me of a question, Why did the Europeans invade the New World in the first place and conquer Native Americans, rather than Native Americans invading Europe and conquering Europeans?

The phrasing of this question will alert some readers to the subject of this post, the powerful 1997 book by Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel.[1]

Diamond’s book travels through time (back to the origins of humans) and space (all continents except Antarctica) to answer that question—to determine why some societies became so powerful, with such technology, that they could cross an ocean and conquer millions of people. The European/Native American conflict is the most obvious example, but history has many examples of more powerful groups overcoming less powerful groups.

Continue reading “Why Did the Europeans Win?”

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History: Has It Ever Been Predictable?

The American public recently watched a surprising event: After months of saying that he would stay in the presidential race, Joe Biden dropped out. What interested me most was the predictions that preceded it.

Some pundits were adamant that he would stay in; others, such as Bill Maher and Vivek Ramaswamy, were certain he wouldn’t.  (I have had difficulty finding the words of those other than Donald Trump who said he would keep going. Maybe they know how to “bury negative search results” on Google.)

Biden’s decision led me to think about whether events in history were predictable. Could the following events have been predicted? Continue reading “History: Has It Ever Been Predictable?”

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Dueling: A Gentleman’s Duty or a Nasty Habit?

As readers know, I have written quite a bit about war on these pages.[1]  But,  to my surprise, I have never written about direct personal combat—specifically, about dueling. This amazes me because I just learned that dueling was a widespread activity, a way of life even, in the antebellum South.

We all know about the fatal duel in 1804 between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, which led to the death of Hamilton. But I have recently learned that Hamilton was involved with—that is, at least entered into discussions about—ten duels before that. Burr had dueled once previously. (And Andrew Jackson killed a man in a duel.)

A recent scholarly paper perused two newspapers (the New York Times and the Richmond Daily Dispatch)  for duels reported between 1861 and 1865. They found 130 duels (over just five years!). Of these 130 duels, they write, “71 involve prominent figures, which we define as politicians, military officers with rank of at least colonel (Army) or captain (Navy), and other well-known private citizens.”[2]

Continue reading “Dueling: A Gentleman’s Duty or a Nasty Habit?”

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What Should We Do about “Mad” Anthony’s Forest?

Wayne National forest named after "Mad" Anthony Wayne

The U.S. Forest Service has proposed renaming Wayne National Forest, a 240,000-acre forest in southeast Ohio. It has selected the name Buckeye National Forest. (Ohio is the Buckeye State.)

The forest honors Anthony Wayne, an important general in the American Revolution. But “Mad” Anthony (whose label was given for disputed reasons)  also was a key figure in the Northwest Indian War, ousting Native Americans from much of Ohio. Understandably, American Indian tribes are encouraging the name change.

I have been opposed to the removal of statues for the sake of “woke” ideology. I’m also doubtful about renaming southern forts, even though they were named for mediocre Confederate generals in order to perpetuate Jim Crow (see this post). And I think renaming college buildings is mostly silly. Which North Carolina State college student wonders about the namesake of Daniels Hall—now labeled 111 Lampe Drive?

But let’s think about the Anthony Wayne National Forest. Continue reading “What Should We Do about “Mad” Anthony’s Forest?”

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Silencing the Past: From the Haitian Revolution to American Correspondence Schools

Drawing or etching of the Haitian Revolution

We’ve all heard that history is written by the winners.  In his 1995 book, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History,  Michel-Rolph Trouillot both agrees and disagrees. He shows that  historical narratives, such as the story of the Haitian Revolution,  reflect differences in  power—”the uneven contribution of competing groups and individuals,” from the initial event to the written word.[1]

In other words, the people who shape history are not necessarily the winners. But they usually have some kind of power.

About a third of the way through his book I realized that I had discovered  such silences in my research on, yes, American correspondence schools. Continue reading “Silencing the Past: From the Haitian Revolution to American Correspondence Schools”